Dental Hygiene

Ultrasonic scalers

01/18/2007

Question:

I am a dental hygienist. I see many patients who have cardiac pacemakers. My office is seeking information/research on the use of ultrasonic dental scalers on patients who have cardiac pacemakers. I am having a hard time finding much. Thank you for any info.

Answer:

The research is saying if you use a piezoelectric ultrasonic scaler, it is OK to use on all cardiac pacemakers. If it is a magnetostrictive unit, you can only use it on pacemakers that are "shielded". Most pacemakers inserted from the mid-1980s on ARE shielded.

It is best to check with the cardiologist to see if the pacemaker is shielded or not. If it is, you are OK to use the magnetostrictive ultrasonic.

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